Batman Revealed, though the reception has been mixed to positive, was a fantastic experience. We were going to school at Bucks County Community College and we were the only students who were able to amass such a crew from the department. Is was great, everyone had fun and we made a movie that represented that. With it’s flaws I am still very proud of what we accomplished with no budget at all.
As told by Director Chris Clark
The Prospect of making a Batman movie was something I thought of for years as a boy. Believe it or not i grew up with Batman Returns and have seen that more than any other Batman movie, and second only to the 1933 King Kong as the movie I’ve watched the most. As a young boy I loved the Penguin character so much. So much so that I wound up being him on halloween not once, not twice, but on three separate years. Though this was always in the back of my mind, I never acted on it. Until one day.....
In the Spring of 2011 I met Derek Mindler. We met inbetween a production class and hit it off. At the tme, Derek needed help on a project called "Hidden" (A movie that is now on indefinate hiatus). During this particular shoot he was helped by fellow students Dante DiBello and Jeff Trently (both of whom would wind up being key players in Batman Revealed). During the shoot I dressed in a coat and fedora. Dante looked at me and told me I had an "uncanny resemblence to The Penguin from Batman". That got me thinking a little bit once again....
It wasn't until a week or so later in my film production class when things started to rock. During a project I played a magician and while doing it I went into my Burgess Meredith impression. Our teacher, Ron Feeback, saw this and told me I really hit the nail on the hammer with the impersonation. That was a catalyist and I started on the script.
Summer 2011 hit and I finished the first version of the script.... and it was a disaster. The movie contained a love triangle with Vicki Vale, Nightwing was in Robin's place, Bane was in Mr. Freeze's spot, a big black man named "The Guilotine" that beheaded the Mayor, and it had Dick Grayson playing Gay. Ya, that wasn't gonna work.
I rewrote the script later in the summer. Vicki Vale was omitted, Alfred was added (more on that later), Nightwing was changed to Robin, Bane was switched to a unique version of Mr. Freeze, and The Guilotine was replaced with a murderer known as The Cannibal.
​ This version of the script is what the movie eventually turned into, with some modifications.
Switching Nightwing to Robin was one of the first things I changed and for good reason. The Nightwing in the original script played more like Robin. Nightiwng never made it past a few promo pictures I took.
The Cannibal was changed to "The Cannibals" fairly early after the draft was done. This worked out for the best. The Mayor's name is Flutie, whom the cannibal was to eat. He is a direct reference to Principle Flutie from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Having two cannibals allowed me to better reference the character via his death. In Buffy he's attacked by a group of cannibalist hyeena people, not just one guy.
The Mr. Freeze concept was a risky one, and im proud of it to this day. Freeze was heavily inspired by Sub Zero from Mortal Combat. His freeze gun, only seen in one shot in the final edit of the movie, originally had another role I'll get into later. Overall it was a cool risk. No pun intended.
Casting the movie was a semi-challenge. Our original Batman didn't work and was replaced with the almighty David B. Stewart III. Dave was in a class with Derek and I eventually met the guy. I know he's received some mixed responces but i think Dave kicked ass. He is a lifelong friend.
I took the role as Penguin and Derek took the role of Dick Grayson and Robin.
The role of Two-Face was given to Tim Nugent, a friend in the film department. We had no prostetics budget so we decided to simplify Two-Face as half black, half white. You know what? It worked for what it's worth.
Lt. Eckhart, from the first Burton Batman movie, was slated to be in the corrupt Police detective role. That role morphed into Detective O'Riley, which wound up playing more humorously. He was played by Dante DiBello. Funny to note is that Dante could never stop laughing during shoots.
Rounding out the cast were a bunch of very good friends from the BCCC film department including our late friend Keith Santiago. Keith was a very unique Commisoner Gordon and a great friend.
Our first shoot was in November of 2011 and our last shoot was in March of 2012. Our first shoot was the Mayor's Speech, which we wound up reshooting. Mayor Flutie, played by Jeff Trently, had a few other scenes during that month we wound up reshooting the following January.​ Right before college let out in December 2011 we shot the first Penguin Scene, which was reshot later. Basically everything we shot in 2011 was later reshot.
Shooting this movie was a blast. For example, one late night we explored the mansion we were shooting in on campus. We went below into the tunnels and pranked eachother. It was glorious.
The Batman mask had horrible ears, to which Dave put plastic spoons in to keep them up.
Although with the magic of color correction the feild fight scene looked stormy and dark, it was actually humid and hot. The hottest shoot was also our last. We went through a lot of water.​
Its interesting to note that the only shoot I wasn't present for was the Commisoner Gordon Scene. Derek compeltely directed that scene while I was at work. An interesting deleted scene (thats can be seen HERE) shows some banter between Catwoman, Gordon, and O'Riley. Funny stuff, completley adlibbed by them. Great surprise.
I could go on about little inside things we've done, but you can watch for yourself HERE. I wanna get on to talking about what from the finalized script was never shot, cut last minute, and how "Hell in a Handbasket" turned into "Revealed"
Hidden to Handbasket
Casting The Movie
Nightwing??????
Writing the Script
The Start of it All
Filming Hell in a Handbasket
Handbasket to Revealed
The Cutting Room Floor
It's one of the hardest things in filmmaking. You have to know what works and what doesn't and just let it go.
I already linked in the paragraph above the deleted scenes we actually shot. Thing is that's only the tip of the iceberg.
Now in the deleted scenes video, the two scenes we shot with the character Alfred Pennyworth were present. Thing is there was more!
When Mr. Freeze kidnaps Bruce Wayne, Alfred was to intervine and get hurt. Dick was to of found him injuried then chase after Freeze.
When Two-Face and the gang break into Wayne Manner, Alfred was to of been shot and killed. The gun blast was to of startled Bruce and Dick in the cave and a fight was to ensue upstairs.
After they are captured by Two Face and Penguin's henchmen, Bruce and Dick were to see Alfred's body. During this scene their reaction to O'Riley's involvement was to of been shown. I as talked out of shooting that cause it was deemed unnessesary. Also, Alfred was also to of been the person to tell Bruce that Flutie was killed.
​ Why Was Alfred cut? Well I decided a young Alfred was stuupid and we recast him with an older guy. Then that guy had a commitment and I just cut Alfred all together.
Two-Face in the climactic fight towards the end of the movie is hit with a shovel and never heard from again. In the script that was not the case.
The chase at the end with Penguin was supposed to be Two-Face. Tim Nugent had an unexpected obligation that caused us to think on our feet. Instead of what it became, Two-Face was to have escaped the feild fight and confront Penguin at his lounge. Batman and Robin chase him and intervine before Two-Face could kill Penguin. A fight was to of ensued and Two-Face was to have been defeated. This was scrapped, regrettably so.
We did shoot a peice of the Two-Face/Penguin scuffle, but that footage has since been lost.
The scene with Bruce in the Iceberg lounge was to of been extended. When Penguin sees Wayne, he approaches and they have a conversation. It was never shot cause we were constrained on time that day and I never bothered with it afterwards. Looking back I would've loved to of had it in. Wish I shot it. It wouldve given Bruce and Penguin more chemistry.
Also, the begining scene with Judge Vargas was shot with Kelly Weston in the role isntead of Ciara Greer. It was decided to reshoot the scene and Kelly became Catwoman for the title sequence instead. The freeze gun was gonna have a bigger role as the weapon that killed Vargas. Alas, it was changed to a neck break.
Something we discussed but never shot was an extra scene with Flutie and Bruce Wayne. They only had one scene together, but Bruce was in costume for it. Another scene wouldve benifitted Bruce's later trainwreck behavior. I wouldve loved to shoot this but there just wasnt time.
Other minor things cut were various lines Two-Face had, Roin punching Lark before he confronts Penguin, and a scene were Two-Face calls Penguin about Robin's arrival at the warehouse.
The Name Change
The thought of changing the title from "Batman: Hell in a Handbasket" to something else was actually quite quick. Derek and I were at a computer doing something, and it just came up in conversartion. "Why dont we just change it to Batman Revealed?" was uttered and it stuck. This name change was rather late in production. Only a few more weeks of shooting remained at the time.
On April 21st, 2012 Batman Revealed Premired at Bucks County Community College. Over 50 people attended. The version that was seen at the premire will forever be locked in my vault, as we referbished it to the version that's online to this day.
The Penguin: Bird of Prey's premiere will be even bigger!
Keep Rocking, and I hope you enjoyed the look into our production.
Chris
The Premiere
